Glyx diet points the 'weigh' ahead

By Monika Hillemacher Apr 17, 2006, 9:37 GMT

Munich ­ With the seasons changing from winter to spring, many people are starting to think about how to get rid of the extra kilogrammes they have piled on during the preceding months.

One dieting trend at the moment is the Glyx method. It promises to shed fat by reducing the consumption of certain carbohydrates. According to the Glyx diet, carbohydrates and not calories are responsible for fat retention.

This philosophy is preached by many other low-carb diets, as they are known in the U.S.

'You have to minimise consumption of foods that have a high Glyx. They encourage fat storage as well as the production of the hormone insulin which causes food craving,' says Marion Grillparzer, the inventor of the Glyx diet.

The Munich-born woman was the first person to give the cumbersome medical term 'Glycemic index' the shorter name of Glyx. The diet begins with three 'fat-burning soup days' when vegetable soup is the only food that can be consumed.

The next stage is a week of vegetables, fruit, fish and wholemeal bread. That is followed by 20 days of boiled potatoes, pasta, vegetables, fish and green tea.

Grillparzer says anyone who follows this diet will lose a kilogramme per week.

Calories play hardly any role in the Glyx diet. Instead, it is 'good' and 'bad' carbohydrates that determine weight gain or loss. Good carbohydrates are defined as those with a low glycemic index such as eggs, legumes, almost all types of salad and vegetables, meat and seafood.

Bad carbohydrates have a high glycemic index and include crisps, ice cream, sweetened drinks, dextrose, grapes and bananas.

In the Glyx diet, bread and pasta made from conventional flour and husked rice are replaced by wholemeal products. Potatoes can be eaten in abundance.

The diet 'does not vary greatly from conventional nutritional wisdom,' says Iris Loehlein, the director of the Glyx Institute in Frankfurt.

Foodstuffs with a low glycemic index are helpful according to Maike Groeneveld, a nutritionist based in Bonn.

'It is easier to control the feelings of being full or hungry because the blood sugar level remains constant. You feel satiated for longer,' explains Groeneveld.

In theory, the body's store of fat is becoming smaller at the same time. Carbohydrates with a high glycemic index can cause the opposite effect.

Groeneveld says the body absorbs high glycemic foodstuffs faster and cause the blood sugar level to rise quickly. As a result, the body produces insulin, which in turn causes food craving.

Grillparzer has divided foodstuffs into three categories.

Green foods can be eaten without any cause for concern. Yellow foods should be eaten in small quantities and red foods occasionally. A range of books on the Glyx method detail what foodstuffs belong in which category.

If you are considering going on a Glyx diet there are a few things to bear in mind.

'The glycemic index is influenced by the composition of meals, how they are prepared and the individual foodstuffs they contain,' says Silke Restemeyer, spokeswoman for the German Nutrition Society in Bonn.

Restemeyer says one problem with the Glyx diet is that it treats foodstuffs in isolation, turning the job of working out a glycemic index into a mathematical conundrum.

Nutritionists such as Groeneveld and Loehlein warn against choosing foodstuffs based solely on their glycemic index.

And it should also not be forgotten that just as with other dieting methods, fat consumption continues to play a big role. However, the glycemic index has barely anything to say about fat.

Anyone thinking of following the Glyx diet should also keep in mind that it will not work without at least some exercise.